Bargain hunters help Wall Street to stage a recovery
US stocks staged a comeback in late trading yesterday as bargain hunters snapped up beaten-down shares, setting aside concerns that efforts to tackle the Eurozone debt crisis could stifle the global economy.
Retailers Wal-Mart and Target also rose ahead of earnings later in the week.
Shares of Wal-Mart rose 1.2 per cent to $52.73 and Target gained 1.6 per cent to $56.05.
The euro slid to a four-year low at one point before rebounding, helping take indexes down more than one per cent earlier in the day.
The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 5.67 points, or 0.05 per cent, to end at 10,625.83. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 1.26 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 1,136.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 7.38 points, or 0.31 per cent, to close at 2,354.23.
Demand worries hit commodities, which fell more than two per cent, or $1.53, to settle at $70.08 a barrel. Energy companies were the S&P 500’s biggest laggards with Exxon Mobil off 0.5 per cent at $63.27.